


i had a dream last night where everyone was trying

by qualapec



Category: The Avengers (2012), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Death References, F/M, Loss, Pain, Past Relationship(s), War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-03
Updated: 2013-07-03
Packaged: 2017-12-17 12:46:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/867707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qualapec/pseuds/qualapec
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set post-Dark World. "Sif knew she would regret not ending him. He regrets it, too."</p>
            </blockquote>





	i had a dream last night where everyone was trying

She backhands him hard enough that she can feel his teeth crack. He staggers to his knees, blood dripping from a split in the corner of his mouth, and she strikes him again with her other hand.  
  
Loki's hands are bound so he can't catch himself, and from the way he drops she has the impression that he doesn’t want to. Against the black soil, speckled with blood, his face looks even paler. Sif knows her face is red, hot with rage and agony and the loss of everything she’s fought for. She shudders, and for the first time since she was a trainee, the hilt of her blade shakes in her palm.  
  
“I should have killed you,” she manages, voice cracked from screaming and crying, “I should have killed you when Thor dragged you back to Asgard. I should have…”  
  
“But you didn't because he would have been sad?” he taunts her but it doesn't reach his heart, because he’s been numb since Midgard and he just wants it to be over. “Nothing’s stopping you now.”  
  
“Is there any chance Thor and Jane Foster are still alive?” Her voice is shaking with raw grief, and under it, determination.  
  
He doesn't know. Maybe. Most likely not. “No.”  
  
She studies his face for the longest time, and he feels sick with disappointment when he sees the intensity pass from her eyes and she smiles at him.  
  
“Liar.” Her voice is so thick with irony it almost could have been a chuckle as she wipes away the wetness from her face. It’s the only clean spot now.  
  
He watches her sheathe her sword and knows the moment has passed, so he rolls onto his back and stares at the alien starscape. There’s some sort of ringed planet blotting out the horizon, which tells him they’re probably on a large moon, and tries to remember what wonder is.  
  
Today won’t be the day. Perhaps if he were particularly cruel, he could get her to kill him still. Before he can, he plays at the cracks in his teeth until the ache shoots up his jaw, and he realizes his heart isn't in it either. So instead, he lays in the dirt, and takes a moment to seal them with magic, trying to get used to the idea that he’ll have to live on for a while longer. He's disappointed. “You should do it.”  
  
“Believe me when I say I want nothing more,” she says, clear as a brook, and he looks up in surprise because that’s not the response he expected. “The creature I see before me is not the Loki I knew. Maybe on the day I kill you he can finally be laid to rest and I can remember what it was like to love him.”  
  
Loki feels something at that even though he tries to pretend he doesn't, and it might be wonder, or it might be because he remembers a moment in the gardens of Asgard a lifetime ago. He remembers soft lips pressed against his and a warmth he now knows only like the sensation of a missing limb.  
  
“Liar…” he manages. To hate him as much as she does, she must remember.  
  
Sif watches him for a moment longer before she turns her head to shove aside the recognition there. There's too much for her to do. She tells him to hurry. They have a lot of ground to cover before the next season of Yggdrasil.


End file.
